


wild night in

by idolatry (bellmare)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Friendship, Gen, NaNoWriMo 2015, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 22:01:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9627311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellmare/pseuds/idolatry
Summary: Partying hard on a Saturday night, ft. barbecue, board games, and booze.-- Aika, ensemble.





	

It had been a few weeks since their last get-together, what with everyone being busy with finals or group assignments or something or the other. Aika now found she knew very well why people didn’t meet up to get together, even though they liked to talk about it all the time.

They were doing one of their usual potlucks -- if ‘bringing different kinds of takeaway’ could even be considered much of a potluck; those were easier than just piling into one of their homes for the evening and getting one person to do the cooking. From past experience, that tended to go badly; Rui was only really adept at barbecues, while Sho’s food always ended up curiously bland and textureless, despite his best efforts and most innovative stabs at equally innovative cooking techniques. Kai tended towards being far too adventurous with his flavour combinations; he was the only one who enjoyed the combination of raw fish cured in plum wine and a haphazard assortment of pickles. Yuna tended to burn whatever she made, without fail, and the most she could be trusted with was simple desserts; Mei and Kou simply didn’t seem to understand the concept of cooking, while Savera could be a bit heavy-handed with seasoning. At the end of the day, Aika thought she and Samarth were perhaps the only ones who could actually cook. Unfortunately, Samarth hadn’t been able to make it today, so most of it ended up falling to her.

“Sure, you’re passable,” Rui had said the last time they’d discussed it -- which was a mere hour or two ago, while he was preoccupied with barbecuing what looked like enough meat to feed twenty people. “Probably the best cook amongst us, it’s well within your abilities to cater a modest buffet. But then you just complain about nobody bothering to help you, when really you don’t like us helping because you don’t trust us.”

She’d told him to shut up and keep an eye on the wings on the grill, baste them already, god, they were starting to burn at the ends. He proceeded to also tell her to shut up and let the BBQ master do his work, and that he knew exactly what he was doing, he didn’t waltz into her kitchen to tell her how to do things, so there.

Tonight’s offerings consisted of several different kinds of pizza, a few platters of barbecued meats and vegetable kebabs -- to be healthy, Kai had argued when they went grocery shopping; once you reached a certain age, there was a certain shame in not having at least some plant-based content in your meal -- and several types of noodles from various takeouts. There was even an enterprising attempt at lasagne, though Aika wasn’t very sure what it was -- it was spicy as well as cheesy, and instead of using pasta sheets, whoever had made it had elected to use thick, chewy sticks of rice cake instead. She was pretty sure her sister had made it; as far as Yuna’s cooking attempts went, this was a very solid one. Perhaps there was hope for her yet.

Several rounds of loading her plate later, Aika felt herself falling into a comfortable doze, ensconced on Kai’s very squashy and comfortable sofa. As far as their potlucks went, there was a rather surprising amount of leftovers still sitting around.

Aika thought she remembered Mei mentioning something about dessert; this was soon realised in the form of several tubs of ice-cream that Kai deposited on the table. “Have at it,” he said, and tossed a bunch of spoons on the tablecloth.

“Straight out of the container?” Mei asked.

Kai snorted. “No, out of my head. Why, you wanna do more washing up? Or you think we can’t finish the lot?”

“No, I just think it’s crass,” Mei said, but cracked open one of the tubs anyway. Aika opened one eye and craned her neck slightly for a better look. Judging from the colour, Mei had chosen wildberry. Or black forest.

The sofa compressed slightly when someone sat down beside her. Aika turned to find Rui lounging on the other end, jiggling his foot as he dug his fingers under the lid of a tub of ice-cream to get it open. “No dessert?”

“I’m tired.” Aika gestured lazily in the general direction of where she thought Kai kept his portable speakers. “And whoever put the music on, it’s putting me to sleep.”

“Why’re you so tired?” Rui asked. “You’re a college student. You’re meant to party all night.”

“Exactly,” Aika said. “I’m a college student. I’m always tired.”

“... touché. So, what happened this time?”

Aika rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn. “I had a group meeting today. Or at least, I was supposed to. Nobody showed up. The next time they do that, I’m just going to remove them from the assignment.”

“Wow, you’re savage.” Rui popped the ice-cream lid open, and peeled the protective plastic cover off. He peered at the label on the side, and then into the tub, and made an appreciative sound. “Want some?”

Aika took a peek at the container, then read it again to make sure she wasn’t just seeing things. “Since when did you guys buy fancy flavours?”

Rui smirked. “Since we knew you’d be coming.”

“... I always come along for the potlucks,” Aika said, annoyed. “You make it sound like I bail all the time.”

“And you make it sound like we never get exciting flavours. We bought white chocolate and rosewater last time! Bloody expensive, too, buying from that artisan gelato place. But we know you like it so.”

“You guys like it too,” Aika pointed out as she took a spoon from Rui and dug out a scoop.

Rui shrugged. “And so everyone benefits," he said, but at least he didn't say anything else while they dug into the ice-cream. It was good; when she took a more careful look, Aika saw she'd tunneled a makeshift passageway all the way to the bottom of the tub, and was momentarily stricken by the amount she'd eaten. If he noticed, Rui had tactfully chosen not to comment.

He  wandered off eventually, to share the remainder of the salted caramel and macadamia ice-cream with other people. Aika didn’t realise she fell asleep after that, and stirred only when she felt someone shaking her shoulder very insistently. This time, it was Yuna. “We’re gonna play some games,” she said, gesturing over her shoulder to where the others were crowded over the kitchen table over a messy jumble of board games. “Are you gonna join us? Or you could sleep, if you want to.”

Aika groaned and tried to unstick her cheek from the side of the sofa. The upholstery had creased itself onto her face. “How long was I out for?”

“I don’t know. Maybe about half an hour?”

“Is that all? Feels like longer.” Aika got to her feet; Rui must have taken her spoon away when he left or she fell asleep; she couldn’t quite remember. She got up and followed Yuna to the table, where Kai and the rest were contemplating several flat, rectangular boxes.

“What should we play tonight?” Sho asked, picking up a box full of black cards. Kai owned a rather impressive stash of party games, which was partly the reason why they usually convened at his place. The other reason was that he didn’t have housemates to lurk around and drop unsubtle hints for them to get lost. Kai already did an admirable job of that himself, if he had enough case studies to read by the next morning.

“Feel like some crime-solving?” Kai asked, holding up the box. “Nothing like getting the brain working when you’re full and happy from ice-cream.”

“No, thank you,” Savera said before anybody else could contribute an opinion. “I don’t particularly enjoy having to solve my own murder.”

Kai frowned. “What? Why not? It builds character. And deductive skills.”

“Deductive skills,” Savera repeated and snorted. “Each time we play, I spend an awful lot of time waiting for you guys to stop standing around gawking or arguing. I think if I really were to die, that’s exactly what would happen.”

“Give us more credit than that,” Kai said. He sounded rather put out.

“If it’s any consolation, we would avenge your death. As long as we get our shit together,” Rui added.

“Yes,” Mei said, absently reading the instruction booklet that had fallen out of the box. Sho was sorting through the pieces, apparently already debating which one he liked best. “In a real murder, I’d like to think we’d be a rather more cohesive team. I will make certain to repay in kind whatever blow was struck to us.”

“Of course you would,” Savera said. “My hero.” Aika had no sure whether she was being sarcastic or not. “Though I think you’d get rather too deeply involved in investigating the murder scene itself.”

“Not yours,” Mei said. “I will take it very seriously.”

“Of course you would,” Savera said again. If anything, she sounded almost indulgent. “Though whenever we end up playing this game, it always devolves into ... into crime scene investigation roleplay. If I wanted to be immersed in that kind of thing, I’d just go watch it on TV.”

“But it’s not quite the same,” Kai began. Savera rounded on him before he could finish.

“Don’t you get started! And then with you, it will devolve into a courtroom drama at some point. I hope that won’t actually happen, the day I have my very sad and anticlimactic demise. I hope you won’t just stand around and yell dramatically at each other; my body’s getting cold, if you want to avenge me, please get on with it a little, perhaps?”

“Fine.” Kai shut the box, then opened it again so Mei and Sho could drop the instructions and missing pieces back in. “Fine, we’re not playing this. Happy? Fine, since everyone and their dog seems to have an opinion on what they wanna play, you guys can decide.”

“Strip poker,” Mei said, at the same time as Rui said, “Monopoly”.

Kai groaned loudly. “God, no, I want to sleep sometime tonight. Preferably without you guys making yourselves at home in my living room. I am  _ not _ staying up until four in the morning to fight with you over fictional real estate.”

“But you’re meant to be the lawyer,” Rui said, as though that explained everything. “Used to making cutthroat deals and knowing the ins and outs of the lawbook. In this case, the rulebook, I guess.”

Kai folded his arms. “I have better things to do.”

Rui burst out laughing. “I never thought I’d ever hear you say that, holy shit. Listen to yourself.”

Kai looked momentarily horrified. “Oh, god, you’re right.”

“So does that mean you’ll play Monopoly?”

“... no,” Kai snapped, and put that box away, too. “Fine, we’ll go with Mei’s suggestion.”

... and that was how they ended up playing strip poker, after all. Mei had gone to put her coat, scarf, gloves, and hat back on. “You didn’t actually have to take me seriously,” she said, buttoning her coat back up.

Aika glanced between everyone else in the group, taking in their various degrees of layering. Yuna was the most egregiously layered, bundled up with enough clothes to look like she was preparing for a nuclear winter. Or perhaps the next ice age. She glanced rather self-consciously down at herself. “What?”

“Nothing, just. You’re suspiciously well-prepared for this.”

“I’m cold,” Yuna said, a little defensively.

“You’re like a heat generator,” Rui said, incredulous. “Like the little toaster that could.”

“Toasters get cold too,” Yuna pointed out. “When they aren’t plugged in.”

“Anyway,” Kai cut in, before the conversation could make even less sense. He unsnapped the rubber band off a deck of cards, and began to shuffle them. “Let’s get this show on the road. I also don’t want you guys here until four playing strip poker.”

“Why, what’s the problem? You don’t have any housemates,” Rui said, and sighed gustily. The doorbell rang, accompanied by someone knocking as though they wanted to beat it down.

“For fuck’s sake,” Kai grumbled and got up. Aika heard him yelling, “you don’t need to bang the door down, you asshole, you know full well we’re in.”

“Must be Kou,” Savera said, taking over dealing out the cards. Sure enough, Kou sauntered in like he owned the place, unwinding his scarf and whipping it off with a brisk, decisive motion. He tossed it onto the couch, then sprawled in place atop the armchair.

“Evening. Sorry I’m late, experimental trials went on for far longer than they were supposed to because some participants showed up late. What did I miss?”

“You’re just in time for strip poker,” Savera said without looking up. “Care to join us?”

“Maybe next round. I’m famished.” Kou got up and went to make himself at home, digging through Kai’s cupboards for a plate and cutlery. Kai himself stomped in, still grumbling, and heavily deposited himself back in his seat.

“Why do you like playing strip poker so much, anyway?” Rui was asking Mei.

She took her sweet time to reply, waiting until Savera had dealt the first hand of cards. “Because I’m good at it,” she said, arranging her cards into an orderly fan. “And nobody likes gambling with money, so clothes it is.”

“That’s because you always get such stupidly good hands!”

Mei tossed her hair. “The gods of fortune smile upon me.”

“Feels imbalanced.”

“What do you mean?”

Rui gestured at her and Kai, then towards the general direction of the kitchen, where Kou was getting his dinner sorted. “In between you cardsharks and those poker faces--“ he pointed at Savera and Aika, “the rest of us sadsacks don’t have a chance of winning. We’re supposed to be friends, aren’t we? Friends don’t rob friends in poker.”

“Oh, Rui,” Mei said, shaking her head. “I don’t play to make friends. I play to win.”

Kou finished loading up his plate and parked himself on the sofa. “You complain an awful lot, for someone who never bothered to learn how to play a better game of poker,” he said, addressing Rui.

“Why am I still even friends with any of you,” Rui muttered as he sorted out his own stack of cards. “More importantly, why am I still friends with  _ you _ ?”

“Because I’m a bastion of sweet, wonderful charm,” Mei said. “Why do you always complain about playing poker? It’s fun. And easy enough to understand.”

“It gets old after playing it so often,” Rui said. “Whether I wager money or clothes. We’ve known each other for long enough. Strip poker gets a lot less titillating after you know someone for that long. And strip poker is the only form of poker where nobody wants to permanently keep stuff they win from me, so that’s why I keep playing.”

“I should hope not,” Kou said. “I feel like you make it a point of wearing your ugliest clothes when you know we’re playing. See, that’s why it’s more fun to spring it on you unannounced. So you don’t have time to dig out all the meme shirts.”

“My meme shirts are hilarious,” Rui said.

“Tacky,” was Mei’s opinion on his meme shirts. Aika rather agreed with Mei’s assessment.

“Titillating is a funny word,” Sho said; his mind had evidently been elsewhere when they were discussing Rui’s predisposition for obnoxious fashion. He chose to start off the round, and discarded two cards.

“I’m tittering,” Rui said, and tossed a few cards down as well.

Kai waggled his brows; it looked almost obscene. “ _ You’re  _ titillating.”

Rui waggled his brows back. “Your  _ face _ is titillating.”

“Why, thank you.”

“Get a room,” Aika growled.

“Pretty rich of you to be saying that,” Kai said. “Seeing as how you’re in my house.”

They were silent as the first round settled into full swing. Kai lost the first hand, but didn’t seem overly bothered. He shrugged and removed his pullover with a flourish, though the effect was rather ruined when he proceeded to get his head stuck in the collar.

“Do you ever wonder if the old farts ever played strip poker?” he asked once he freed himself from the neckline of his pullover. His hair puffed up, full of static from the knit. Aika leaned over and smoothed it down. “Thanks,” he added.

Rui burst out laughing. “Oh, you bet your ass they have. You can’t know each other for as long as they have, without playing strip party games of some description at some point. The biggest question is whether they still do, and how often.”

“I think they have mahjong weekends sometimes,” Yuna said, studying her cards closely before adding some to the pile.

“Strip mahjong, then,” Kai said, tossing his pullover over his shoulder.

Rui grinned. “We could try it sometime.”

Kou raised his brows. “You’re the only one who knows how to play.”

“I’m not the only one who knows how to play,” Rui said, still smiling. “But damn straight, I’m the best player here. Why, don’t fancy your chances against me? Don’t worry, I understand. The prospect of losing your pride and dignity along with your clothes is a daunting one.”

“Big talk from someone who’s losing the round,” Kou remarked, craning his neck to look over Rui’s shoulder.

Rui growled and lowered his cards. “Stop looking. I’ll wipe the floor with your stupid face when we play mahjong.”

“Fighting words,” Kou smirked. He deposited his plate on the side table and stretched out across the sofa. “Bring it on.”

"Get your damn feet off my furniture," Kai said. Kou stared at him, then at his feet, then very pointedly turned back to focus on the game.

The round continued amidst their bickering; Yuna lost, and after some hesitation took off her sweater. She took her time folding it up neatly, and placed it beside her.

“Who knows,” Kai said, dealing out the cards again. “Maybe when we’re the same age as the seniors, we’ll still be playing strip poker.”

“Highly doubt it’s all that titillating to them” Savera said. “I’m pretty sure they’ve seen each other in various stages of undress in rather less flattering circumstances.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Kai settled back in place and picked up his cards. “What about the demons? I sometimes wonder about them. I bet Ming would love strip poker, though.”

To everyone’s surprise, Yuna giggled a bit awkwardly. “Oh, yeah, they sure do. And she sure does.”

“Wait, what.” Rui turned to face her squarely. “How do you even know?”

“Ming likes to tell me all the juicy, juicy details.” Yuna said. “It gets pretty wild.”

Aika resists the urge to roll her eyes and keep rolling them right out of her skull. “I can imagine.”

“I’ve always wondered how demons do it,” Sho said, trailing off a little. He glanced around when he found everyone staring at him. “What? Oh. Uh.” The tips of his ears turned red. “I meant how they play strip poker. Their clothes are part of their falseform, aren’t they?”

Yuna shrugged. “I’m not too sure. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. I guess they wear real clothes when they play strip poker. How’d it work otherwise?”

“I dunno, you tell me,” Kai said, disappointed. “I mean, if their clothes are part of their falseform and they take that off, isn't it like taking bits of yourself off?"

“Or they could just make that bit of clothing disappear. Less stuff to fumble with in the falseform.”

Mei snapped her fingers. “I’d prefer if we didn’t delve too much into this matter.”

“If I were a demon, I wouldn’t buy any clothes,” Savera said. “Sure saves a lot of money that way. Just imagine: you could dress however you like, the world’s your oyster. Nothing is too expensive and everything will always fit perfectly.”

“I heard the boss lady’s dragon gets pretty into it,” Kai said. “I also heard Ming and stuff are pretty pals with some of the Bureau demons. True or false, Yuna?”

“True,” Yuna said. “Though just one or two of them.”

“Fraternising with two of the enemy is bad enough,” Aika said as she tossed a card into the pile.

“Actually, hold the phone. I think it’s a few more than that,” Yuna said.

Aika leaned back against the sofa to watch the others picking through their cards. “Sometimes, I worry about Ming’s ... friendliness.”

Rui laughed. “I wouldn’t call it  _ friendliness _ . I don’t think I’d call any of them truly friendly with one another.”

“Mm. I think one of those Bureau demons picked a fight with Yong once,” Yuna said. She stared at her cards, then at the ones in the pile, and added, “fold”. She was the last player for that round; everyone else put their cards down. “They still get along pretty decently despite all that, though,” she continued.

Sho sighed at his hand of cards, then took off his cardigan and wadded it up to use as a cushion.

The next round started; Kou wanted to join, and Aika didn’t trust herself to stay awake through the next round. “You sure?” Kou asked when she shifted to make room for him.

“Pretty sure. All yours,” she said, and took his spot on the sofa. Kou shrugged and settled down in her recently-vacated seat. The new round started; Aika vaguely thought she heard Mei and Sho discussing some findings for their project in their shared biochemistry class. The conversation segued to Kai talking about being set up with a girl from one of his philosophy classes.

“Can you believe it?” he said, sounding almost offended. “I’m being set up for blind dates. By humans. I almost feel vaguely insulted. I mean, I appreciate the gesture, but I think I can find dates myself pretty fine.”

“Yes, until you open your mouth and try to sound suave, and just end up putting your foot right in,” Mei said. She sounded amused.

“Shut up,” was all Kai had to say for himself.

“I’m sure they have your best interests at heart,” Savera said, a little doubtfully.

Sho hummed a little in disagreement. “Hmm. Don’t think it’s in anyone’s bests interests to outlive someone they like.”

“Oho.” Kai’s voice sharpened; from the sound, he was leaning forwards. Out of the corner of her eye, Aika saw Mei edging closer too. “Why, is there a special human someone in your life?”

Sho was turning red. “No!”

“Awfully quick with that denial there,” Kou said, not looking up from his cards. “Don’t worry, we won’t make fun of you, and we certainly don’t have any intentions of threatening the object of your affections.”

“Noooo, we’re not having this conversation. Someone save me,” Sho said, and turned to gaze beseechingly at Aika. She rolled over and pretended to have dozed off.

“Well, if you like  _ titillating _ human experiences, you could always go for a contractor instead,” Savera commented. “They live longer, too.”

Rui suddenly made an odd choking sound and broke out in a loud coughing fit. Aika glanced sharply at him and he averted his eyes. She wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but he seemed to have turned red. Thankfully -- for him, at least -- the others were still far too interested in interrogating Sho and Kai to notice, though Aika did see Kou giving Rui a strange, measured sidelong look.

“So, Kai,” Rui said in an oddly loud voice, “this blind date of yours, she cute?”

Yuna was far more interested in other things. “Is she nice?”

Kai fidgeted a little with his cards. “Uh, she’s cute and nice, yeah, but not really my type. I see her hanging out with this shorty hipster with colourful hair, though.”

“Shorty hipster with rainbow hair.” Mei narrowed her eyes. “Somehow, I feel like I know who you’re talking about.”

“Maybe you do,” Kai said, and lowered his voice. “It’s because you’re members of the international shorty network.”

“Pardon me, would you care to repeat that again? And a little louder?” Mei asked.

“I didn’t say anything. But I guess now that I think about it, she’s not that short.”

“Everyone under five and a half feet is short to you,” Yuna said somewhat dejectedly. “I don’t think I ever even enter your field of vision.”

“Don’t be silly.” Then, Kai glanced around. "Wait, who said that?"

Yuna only sighed. Everyone else lapsed back into silence. Sho lost again, and removed his socks.

“You know, it’s after conversations like these that I’m glad at least one of us doesn’t have a human flatmate to worry about,” Rui said, then clicked his fingers with a sharp  _ snap _ . “Hey, wait. Since you don’t have a flatmate, maybe I should move in with you instead.”

Kai grimaced. “Dude, no. I value my personal space. Anyway, what’s wrong with your flatmate?”

Rui hunkered glumly down and picked up the cards that Kai had just dealt out again. “I was apparently the only one who answered the flatmate want ad  _ and _ passed his extremely specific criteria.”

“Lucky you,” Yuna said. “But what’s wrong with him?”

Rui snorted so loudly, Aika was half-amazed he hadn’t permanently damaged his sinuses or worse. “Are you kidding me? That should’ve been my cue to run far and run fast. If anyone has such specific criteria, it ought to be a warning sign with huge, flashing neon lights. I should’ve run away without looking back, never to return, and gone and built an igloo hut in the middle of the wilderness. The commute would be a pain in the ass, but maybe I could get used to it.”

“You’re such a drama king,” Mei said.

“Okay, I didn’t sign up for maths because maths sucks, and I hate it, but that doesn’t mean jackshit because I get free math lectures every day!”

Sho made an appreciative sound. “I could do with free maths help. Send him my way! I think Lysander’s getting tired of tutoring me, though he hasn’t actually said anything. But I just kinda get a feeling.”

“Huh?”

Sho signed. “I mean, if you’ve got problems, I feel bad for you. I’ve got zero point nine nine problems ... but maths is basically one.

“Oh, that’s good,” Savera said, though both Kai and Mei groaned.

“I can’t believe I had to hear that with my own two ears,” Kou sighed. “I’m going to flatten you this round for that, Sho. Sorry, no hard feelings.”

“Er, anyway,” Kai said, attempting to distract Kou. “Sure, if your flatmate’s an annoying know-it-all about it that’s annoying as shit, but if he knows his stuff, there’s nothing wrong with that. What’s the deal, anyway? Does he not know what he’s talking about?”

“No,” Rui moaned. He couldn’t quite put his face in his hands and settled for putting the cards over his eyes. “The problem is that he’s very,  _ very _ good at maths and doesn’t hesitate to rub my face in it all day long. He even calls me a pleb!”

“Oh, that sounds good. Could you introduce him to me?” Sho asked.

“Wait, what, which part of that sounds good. Being called a pleb?”

“No,” Sho said, very patiently. “The part where he’s good at maths and wants everyone to know it. I think he’s trying to share his maths talents. And the wonders of maths. What’s wrong with that?”

“And you're just gonna ignore the part where he calls people who don’t understand or care for maths plebs? Do you wanna be called a pleb?” Rui demanded.

“Well, no. But I’m sure he has his reasons for calling you one.”

“I like this human already,” Mei said. “Perhaps I should come over and visit sometime!”

“Aika and I have met him,” Yuna said. “He’s not too bad, contrary to what Rui said.”

“That’s because he was  _ behaving _ . And as if the maths isn’t bad enough, he’s from some exorcist family!” Rui yelled.

“Oh.” Mei stopped laughing. “Well, that’s definitely an issue that changes everything. Are they a clan affiliated with the Bureau of Thaumaturgy?”

Aika rolled over again, now more interested in the track this conversation was taking. Rui shrugged impatiently. “Hell if I know, it’s not like I have a handbook detailing the genealogies of the founding families of the Bureau. Cut me some slack, Mei, some of us branch family sadsacks don’t get quite as extensive an education in how to spot witch hunters.”

“You’re an idiot,” Aika said without preamble.

Rui looked aggrieved. “So nice of you to join us, just in time to continue shaming me. Besides, he doesn’t seem that dangerous. The only danger I’m truly in is, god forbid, learning about maths.”

“This isn’t funny,” Aika snapped. “You should’ve told us. Not so much about the maths, nobody cares about that, but about his background.”

“She’s right,” Savera said. “Humans didn’t seem all that dangerous until they started being born with more and more magic conduits, and then other aberrant abilities. Like being able to actually actively use that potential. It’s a slippery slope. You turn around, and one day they’re binding demons to their kids, trying to emulate what the old noble witch families used to do. Some of them can even use demon gear, and you put them together and you get contractors. What next, they start being able to forge their own demon gear? Use wild magic?”

“You guys are being awfully apocalyptic about all this,” Rui observed. “Anyway, all this shit never came up.”

“I don’t understand how you can be so blasé about everything!” Aika growled. “You think you can just conveniently ignore all this and it’ll go away? Or that if it doesn’t come up, nobody needs to know about it?”

Rui jumped to his feet, bristling. “Not everyone likes talking about their family, Aika! I thought you, of all people, would understand that! This guy doesn’t wanna talk about his exorcise folks, that’s his fucking call! It’s not like I wanna talk about my family, either. In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t exactly enjoy being the laughingstock of both sides of the family!”

The silence that followed was almost deafening. Sho coughed and rubbed his nose; Yuna stared down at the hem of her skirt, suddenly very interested in the stitching.

“Well, will you look at that.” Savera was the first to break the silence, tossing down her cards with a noisy  _ smack _ . “Looks like I lost.” She took off her jacket and flipped it into the pile of discarded clothes.

Yuna cleared her throat nervously. “Well, um. I’m gonna go find some drinks. We all need something to drink, right? Something to warm us all up? Or I guess cool us down. I dunno. Maybe both.” She leapt up and grabbed Kai by the forearm. “C’mon, Kai, let’s go, you can show me where everything’s kept and I’ll help you bring stuff out.” Without much further ado, she dragged him off in the general direction of the kitchen. Aika could briefly hear Kai saying “wait, no, I don’t keep them there, here, let me go first--" before they both trailed off.

The rest of them sat in a rather uncomfortable silence for many minutes. Rui was determinedly not looking at Aika, fidgeting with one of the strings of his hood. Savera leaned against the armchair, arms crossed as she dozed. Her head drooped forwards. After a few minutes, Sho started a game on his phone; the music briefly blared out through the speakers, making everyone jump. He muted it with an apologetic look, and resumed tapping out a rhythm on the touchscreen.

Kai and Yuna returned with armfuls of bottles, some half-full, others nearly empty, and a few unopened. Mei raised her brows. “You have quite the stash,” she said.

“People give me stuff sometimes,” Kai said and shrugged. He set the bottles down on the coffee table. “Pick your poison, guys, and knock yourselves out.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” Rui took something with a colourful label, and unscrewed the cap. “Wow, this is strong stuff.”

The next hour or so passed in a blur, after Aika relented and got a drink, too. She joined back in the poker game eventually and somewhere along the way she lost several rounds and, in turn, articles of clothing. By the time she shed her tights, she’d also forgotten what she was angry about. Rui had been singing rather off-key to something for the past ten minutes, though he also seemed to have forgotten half the words.

At some point, Sho tried to argue that his belt, earrings, and rings were worth the same as much as one single article of clothing, and a fresh argument erupted over whether he was allowed to give those up or not. By now, Kai had rather gleefully liberated himself of most of his clothes and had turned the heating up. Aika glanced at herself, then back at Rui, and found to her surprise and great dismay that their score seemed to be roughly even, based on how dressed they still were. “I thought I was better at poker than you,” she said.

He looked at her, then at himself. “So did I. I guess I play better drunk. Just call me the drunken master of poker.”

“Get stuffed,” Aika said, without any real feeling.

Of the group, Savera, Mei and Kou had managed to fare the best; Mei was still almost fully-dressed. Aika was more surprised that Kai had lost so many rounds, and mentioned as much.

“S’because it’s too hot,” Kai said. He was also rather red in the face after the drinks. “I lost on purpose.”

“You,” Rui declared, trying to point and missing by a few inches, “are not a drunken master of poker.”

Behind him on the sofa, Yuna groaned and turned over. She’d fallen asleep shortly after her first few drinks and was now curled on her side, head pillowed on the discarded pile of knitwear. In a break between the rounds, Sho stopped to arrange some of their coats over her as a makeshift blanket.

“You’re not the drunken master you seem to think yourself to be, either,” Aika said. “Seeing as how you just lost the round.”

Rui sighed as he fumbled with his pants; he seemed to have forgotten how buttons worked. “You know, I’ve been thinking.”

Aika suppressed the urge to laugh. The others looked at her oddly, and she realised she’d failed. “You think?”

“Shut up,” Rui said. Then, he seemed to belatedly realise he still had his shirt, and gave up trying to figure out his pants. Aika ducked when he tossed his shirt onto the couch. It narrowly missed Yuna’s head.

“What’ve you been thinking about?” Aika prompted, watching the trajectory of the shirt.

“Uh.” Rui seemed to have forgotten. He stared very hard at the sofa. “My flatmate. I was just thinking he’s not actually that bad.”

“This is it,” Mei said. “The point at which we know you’re drunk out of your skull.”

“Shut up,” Rui said again. “He’s not so bad. Hates talking about his family and stuff like that, like me. We got a lot in common, this human math nerd and me. I? This human math nerd and I?” He shook his head. “Whatever, you understand me, right.”

“You do realise you’re also a nerd, right?” Savera asked. “You’re a chemistry nerd.”

“Noooo,” Rui moaned, drawing out the word. “I’m a  _ cool _ nerd. Setting things on fire is cooler than staring at a bunch of numbers. And speaking of setting things on fire, I  _ did _ do that the other week, actually.”

“Oh, great. Just another day in Rui’s fantasy world, then.” Aika gestured for whatever Kai was drinking, and he passed the bottle over. He jumped when a spark of static skipped between their fingers. “What did you do?”

“I had an incident,” Rui said, placing a lot of emphasis on  _ incident _ . “In the chem labs.”

Savera sighed. “To absolutely nobody’s surprise. Unfortunately, I was there. Even more unfortunately, I was too far away to immediately realise what he was doing until it was too late.”

“Sav's not telling the whole story,” Sho said. “He almost blew up the entire building. There was even a fire drill, and they had to evacuate the whole building. I had a class there that day as well, when the alarms went off. One minute I was minding my own business, the next minute I’m getting shoved out of the door and informed that there was a fire hazard in the building.” He shook his head. “Clearly, they meant Rui.”

“Oh, god. I remember reading about that in the news, though they didn’t name the student who sparked off the event. I should’ve have been surprised,” Aika said, disgusted.

“I didn’t even get to enjoy my own fifteen minutes of fame,” Rui said sadly.

“And yet, you weren’t expelled for an incident that big?” Mei asked. Rui shook his head.

“Nah, my flatmate pulled some strings, apparently. His family’s pretty loaded. Maybe there was hush money involved.”

“You idiot,” Aika said. “Of course there’s always hush money involved.”

“Bel didn’t get involved?” Kou asked.

“She wasn’t picking up when I called her,” Rui said.

Kou looked almost surprised. "That's ... mundane. I was expecting something a lot more ominous, somehow."

“Wow,” Sho said, “your flatmate sounds like he’s loaded.”

Rui snorted. “He sure doesn’t look the part. He’s usually quite a stingy poker.” He laughed a little at himself, then stopped abruptly. “No, seriously. He coupons and budgets like a housewife.”

“Wow,” Sho said again. “Your own personal housewife.” Aika had no idea whether he was being sarcastic. “But my flatmate coupons and budgets like a housewife too, and I don’t think he’s secretly loaded.”

“He could be keeping it under wraps, like Rui’s flatmate,” Savera suggested. “Much better idea than flaunting around how rich and well-connected you are. For all you know, maybe he wanted to try at being independent and stuff, without relying on the family fortune.”

“No,” Sho said and sighed. “I’m pretty sure it’s because we’re broke students and spend all our money on clothes and streaming TV shows and high-speed internet. And mobile games.”

Savera raised her eyes skywards. “Well, at least you know what the problem is, and aren’t in denial. Unlike some people.”

Rui cleared his throat. “Anyway, I guess my flatmate’s pretty good, just apart from being a human and from an exorcist family and, worst of all, being an insufferable math geek. It’s the story of why I haven’t moved out. This one’s a keeper. Really grown on me, after all these months. Like a barnacle.” He frowned, deep in thought. “Or a limpet. Or a fungus.” At this, he burst out in a fit of laugher. “I guess you could say he’s a  _ fun guy _ .”

“Can’t believe I’m related to you,” Aika grumbled.

Rui was about to say something, but everyone was putting their cards down. He forgot what he was going to say when he saw he’d lost the hand, and frowned again. “I think that’s it for me. No more gambling. If I take my pants off, I don’t think I can put them back on. Narrowly avoided losing this round, too. Unless someone wants to help me put my pants back on later.”

“Shoulda worn trackpants, bro,” Kai said. "And you can go put your own damn pants on, you're a big enough boy now."

"Screw you, some best friend you are." Rui shook his head. “I mean, what the hell, man. I’m not a barbarian. A trackpant-wearing barbarian. Friends don't let friends go out in public as trackpant-wearing barbarians.”

Kai screwed up his forehead. “The hell are you on about? Trackpants are an essential part of a college student wardrobe. Particularly during finals.”

“Unfortunately,” Rui muttered.

“Though I guess law and medicine students don’t exactly traipse around in trackpants,” Kai added as an afterthought. “But I can tell you they dress down quite a lot when out of class. It’s wearing all those suits and labwear or scrubs all the time, as soon as you get home you just wanna put something comfy on.”

“I see people turning up for exams in their pyjamas all the time,” Sho said. “I would like to, too.”

“No you don’t. Not as long as I’m still alive,” Rui muttered under his breath. “Which I guess was a pretty close thing. I feel like Lysander or Millie may have skinned me alive if they did pick up my calls and found I almost got expelled again. Tonight’s dinner may well have been in honour of my sad passing.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Savera said, as she shuffled the cards again for the remaining players still sober enough to hold onto their cards, let alone play strategically. “They probably wouldn’t have minded too much. If anything, I feel like they’d be slightly envious of you and wished they could get away with the same sorta fun. People find their answers to life in different ways. I guess you just find it through ... blowing things up.”

“Wow, really?” Rui asked.

“... no. I don’t know.”

Yuna turned over in her sleep, almost rolling off the couch. Sho managed to stop her from falling right off. She almost kicked Kai in the back of the head in the process, then tried to pull her makeshift blanket over to cover herself in her new position. Kai sighed and rearranged the pile of knitwear and outergarments over her. “Our future leader, ladies and gentlemen.” He gestured towards her, with a small flourish.

“To the future witch queen,” Kou toasted, and downed the remainder of the bottle he was holding.

“Could’ve been you,” Rui said to Mei. Aika wished she were sitting closer to her cousin, so she could kick him. Mei raised her brows.

“Not my kind of thing,” she said, with a faint smile. “I prefer not being in the limelight, if it’s all the same to you.”

Kai picked up an unopened bottle of vodka. “Hm, what say you guys. Another round, another bottle?”

“I’ll pass,” Kou said and sighed. “More experiments to run tomorrow morning.”

Kai stared at him. “It’s  _ Sunday. _ ”

Kou put on a most tragic and long-suffering expression. “Yes, but that doesn’t stop some people from scheduling their participation slots in during the weekend.”

Mei shook her head. “Sho and I have to go into the biochem lab tomorrow.”

Sho blinked. “We do?”

Mei narrowed her eyes. “Our experiment?”

“Oh. Oh, yeah, that. I thought it could wait for next week.”

“Ah, but you forget. Science and time wait for no man.” Savera tilted her head to the side, considering. “And neither does food poisoning.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Rui demanded. Savera shrugged. “I dunno, but it’s true. None of them wait for you.”

“Guess you’ve sorta got a point. Speaking of which, I think I got food poisoning the other day, when I went to a party and someone tried to mix their own drinks without the right ingredients.”

Savera looked mildly impressed, most likely by the depths of ridiculousness to which Rui was capable of. “What did you even try to do?”

“Well, we didn’t have the right stuff to make this cocktail. It wanted ice-cream soda, and we couldn’t find any. Well, I mean, we did. But it was pink. And the drink wouldn’t have looked right if it were pink, needs to be amber.”

“... great. And what did you do?”

“Uhh, well, we had ice-cream, and we had club soda ...”

Savera groaned. “Oh, god. Don’t tell me--"

“Yup,” Rui said glumly. “It was disgusting. I felt so sick after that. First time I’d ever thrown up because of alcohol. But I mean, logically, if you have ice-cream and soda, it should taste the same as ice-cream soda, right? Well, word of advice. From the wise.” He smirked a little at the unintentional rhyme. “It doesn’t taste the same.”

“That’ll teach you to make stupid substitutes,” Kou said.

“That’s not all.” Rui sighed. “We tried to make pina coladas, but didn’t have coconut ... so we decided to make banana smoothies and substitute that in.”

“ _ Why _ .”

“Because bananas are like pineapples. They’re both tropical yellow fruits.”

“I’m not surprised your friends are as big idiots as you are,” Aika said. “Like attracts like.”

“Jerk,” Rui said, and stuck out his tongue. “But that reminds me. I’ve always wondered if there are any cocktails with banana in them.”

“I’m sure there are. There’ll always be some idiot wondering if they can make some weird shit or another.”

Rui waggled a finger “Innovation is the mother of invention.”

“I think you mean necessity,” Aika said.

“Maybe I should become a ... what do you call it? A mixologist?”

Aika opened her mouth to say something else, and was interrupted by Yuna rolling onto her back, sneezing, and almost starting a small fire on Kai’s sofa.

“Okay, you know what?” Kai said, after hastily dousing the sparks. “I like a nice winter bonfire as much as the next person, but not in the middle of my living room, and certainly not fuelled by my clothes and furniture. I think it’s time for you lot to cleared out, I’m not gonna have you guys ruining my place.”

He shook Yuna, attempting to wake her up. She sleepily mumbled something and curled up against the couch. Kai glanced at them for help, but Aika just shrugged, and he reluctantly turned back to the task at hand; if anything, he didn’t seem too keen on poking at Yuna more, in case she set something else alight. It took several more efforts to wake her up enough to put on the few layers of clothes she’d lost in the initial rounds of poker, and even more effort to get her off the couch and down the hall. “Maybe we can leave her here,” Aika said, watching her sister trying to put her coat on the wrong way. After a few attempts, Sho took pity on her and helped her into it.

Kai almost squawked. “What, no, what if she sets my curtains on fire while I’m asleep?”

Aika slung her bag over her shoulder and put her hat on. “And now you know what my childhood was like.”

Rui finished lacing up his boots, with some difficulty. He hadn’t managed to tie them properly, and hadn’t bothered attempting to put his gloves on, instead electing to jam them into a coat pocket. The fingers spilled out, waving limply. “Same time next month? Maybe Sam can make it then. Where is he, anyway?”

Savera shrugged, winding her scarf around her neck and knotting it in place. “On some thesis expedition or something. He said he’ll be back soon.”

“Must be nice,” Kou said. “Maybe I should’ve done archaeology, instead. Nobody’s that keen on sending psychiatrists around anywhere exciting.”

“Yeah, given the way you show up late half the time, where are you even conducting your lab experiments? In the middle of the ocean?” Kai grumbled. “Better show up on time next month, or don’t show up at all.”


End file.
